Fernandez isn't looking too good

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, March 22, 1998

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Giants don't expect to get the bad news until Monday, but it's looking more and more as if Osvaldo Fernandez will start the season on the disabled list.

Fernandez, who had to come out of Friday's game at Tempe in the second inning with a sharp pain in his right elbow, has inflammation in the same area that troubled him last year, shutting down his season July 1 for elbow surgery.

A comparison of MRIs between the latest injury and the elbow around the time of the '97 surgery will determine whether Fernandez winds up on the DL. The Giants are not optimistic.

Trainer Mark Letendre, pointing out how rarely he uses the word, said, "I would list his condition as "guarded.' "

Dr. Warren Lewis, who operated on Fernandez' elbow last year, is comparing the MRIs and was expected to report his findings Sunday for review by local radiologists. Fernandez, his elbow wrapped in a bandage in the clubhouse Saturday, was glum.

Speaking through coach Carlos Alfonso, Fernandez said,

"I feel bad. Until I hear from the doctors exactly what is right or wrong, I don't know if I'll feel any better."

The elbow was still hurting Saturday, said Fernandez -

"It's different from what I felt before, a funny-bone sensation.

"At first, stiffness on the top of the elbow didn't allow me to throw, then I got that funny-bone sensation at the bottom of the elbow. Once I felt that, I thought it better not to continue."

If Fernandez has to start the season on the disabled list, it increases the chances Russ Ortiz, 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA after 11 innings, will make the team. Ortiz edged even closer Saturday when Danny Darwin, who was vying with Fernandez to be No. 5 starter, had a rough outing against the Diamondbacks.

Darwin, making his first start since being hit on the knee by a line drive March 9, gave up a single, walk and triple in the first inning to fall behind, 2-0, and was walloped for a single and two-run homer in the third and two more homers in the fourth.

He left after 4-3/4 innings, behind 6-1, looking at an 0-1 record and 6.75 ERA over 10-7/8 spring innings.

Fernandez had to come out of Friday's game against the Angels with two outs in the second inning. He grabbed at his right elbow, was met at the mound by trainers and coaches and immediately went to Scottsdale Memorial North for tests, which revealed serious inflammation of the elbow.

While waiting for word on the MRIs, Letendre said Fernandez "will be receiving as much treatment as possible to reduce swelling around the joint."

Because the joint has already undergone surgery, "it is abnormal by definition," said Letendre, so it was not possible to tell whether the new injury is in the same place as the old one.

Fernandez, who made a point of saying he felt "no pain, no pain" in his other five outings, has pitched 11-3/4 innings this spring, a number he considers low. "I'm not really frustrated, because I really haven't started anything," he said. "I think everything's going to be OK, so there's no sense being frustrated."

But manager Dusty Baker was prepared for the worst. "The way his arm looks, I don't know," Baker said.&lt;